Hur kan förskollärarna i Växjö kommun bidra till en kemikaliesmart förskola?

Everywhere in our surroundings, the people face all kind of chemicals. Some of these chemicals can be a health risk to the humans. The preschool environment is one place where many children are surrounded by these subjects and children are even more sensible to these chemicals than the grown-ups are. Children are usually closer to the floor than adults are, and the chemicals accumulate in dust on the floor, which increases the risk of exposure to chemicals for the children. Children also have their hands in their mouth more often than adults, which makes it easier for them to get exposed to the chemical through the mouth. An objective regarding a preeschool free from harmful chemical substances was suggested by the municipality of Växjö 2017. To be able to create a guidance and actionplan the municipality of Växjö realized that they needed more overview regarding the preschool teachers’ perception of chemicals in the preschool environment since the preschool teachers need to have knowledge about these chemicals to be able to make changes and work together to make the preschool environment less toxic. The purpose of this study was to investigate if preschool teachers working in the municipality of Växjö had enough knowledge, motivation and prerequisites to prevent this kind of environment for the kids. The method used was an internet-based questionnaire. The results showed that the preschool teachers’ knowledge regarding the chemicals was close to non-existence. According to the data most of the preschool teachers has medium to high motivation to do something about the chemical environment. More than half of the preschool teachers claimed that they had ability to make changes to the chemical environment. With more knowledge, more time, and more money it would be easier for the preschool teachers to reach the goal, a preschool free from harmful chemical substances